‘Fagin’s law’: Who benefits when children commit crime?
That organised criminal groups rarely have any scruples when it comes to achieving their aims will not surprise many.
The wave of arson attacks and violence arising from feuds between serious organised crime groups affected communities across Scotland, and showed how little regard those involved had for the safety of others or for human life. Police Scotland’s Operation Portaledge responded to 84 incidents of violence and disorder, with a further ten when violence flared again earlier this year.
It is no surprise that young people are being groomed into working for these groups: as couriers and selling drugs, committing targeted reprisals and acts of violence. Their involvement is often the most visible on electric bikes with balaclavas, they even have their own slang term ‘ballys’. Behind that visibility, however, is the shadowy hand of adult puppet masters, manipulating vulnerable children for criminal gain.
I have recently been involved in supporting families whose young people have been victims of offences committed by other young people acting on behalf of adults, and families who fear their own child is being groomed into these groups.
Young people are targeted because they are vulnerable, isolated, excluded from school, seeking belonging or simply looking for opportunity and status.
The abuse of children can never be tolerated. And this is abuse – we would do well to remember that when these offences are reported in the media. Many organisations support young people caught in this web of harm, doing their best to repair the damage and help them find another path.
In February, the Scottish Government announced a statutory public inquiry into group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation, chaired by Professor Alexis Jay, who previously led major investigations in Rotherham and across England and Wales. While the inquiry focuses primarily on sexual exploitation, it raises a wider question about how society responds to all forms of child exploitation.
Speaking to Australian colleagues recently, they explained what they called ‘Fagin’s Law’: legislation designed to target adults who recruit, groom, coerce or encourage children to commit crimes on their behalf. The name comes from Fagin in Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, who organised groups of children to steal for him. In Victoria, adults who recruit children into criminal activity can face up to 15 years in prison, and legislation introduced this year proposes life imprisonment where children are recruited to commit the most serious crimes.
Scotland should look closely at whether our own law, policy and practice place enough focus on those adults.
Too often, public debate concentrates on the criminal acts carried out by young people without asking who benefits, who directed them and who should really be held to account.
Children who cause serious harm must face consequences. But consequences for those children alone will not stop adults from finding another vulnerable child to exploit. We need to see both the harm caused by the young person and the harm being done to them. That means earlier identification, better information-sharing and relentless attention to the adults organising the offending, profiting from it and replacing one child with another. Most of all, we need to bring those directing this exploitation out of the shadows. Until we do, we risk punishing children while the adults exploiting them remain safely hidden.
